Monday, March 19, 2018

Why San Francisco's JUMP eBike Rental Pilot Program Endangers Pedestrians

eBike JUMP rider checks out traffic
The San Francisco Transportation Agency's currently testing an eBike pilot program hosted by JUMP eBikes. The electric bicycles are planted throughout the city with a self serve payment $4.00/hr system without supervision much like Zip Cars. This means anyone with a credit card can jump on an electric bicycle without any skills operating one including without any helmet available or knowledge of traffic laws nor familiarity with an awkward heavy bike.

San Francisco city government's stated purpose of the new pilot program is to get people out of their vehicles. As someone whose been riding electric bicycles since 2009, I have plenty to say about JUMP's pilot program and recent experiences with its riders. In my opinion, it's a reckless dangerous program because riders need direction and supervision a rental store operator typically provides.

I recently provided my points of concern in a letter to SFMTA Bike Sharing Program Manager Heath Maddox I wanted to share along with her response below. I'm praying no one gets hurt or injured. Many of us have close calls in our experiences that raises awareness and skill levels on these bikes. For instance, new riders may be unaware of the probability of getting doored riding too close to parked vehicles as I did in 2011.


Many elderly women jump onto cheap $4/hr eBikes they've never ridden before 
without skills nor familiarity of traffic laws. This lady seems challenged on what to do.


The woman in the above mentioned photo rode from a sidewalk through a red light at a dangerous intersection (California@Leavenworth) where a steep hill she crossed @ California Street makes it difficult to denote any oncoming cars.  

I also recently witnessed a JUMP eBike rider coming towards me against traffic on a one way street paving his own way around town without a care in the world. Many of the JUMP riders are wearing earphones without a helmet.





Many who jump on these eBikes have no medical insurance looking for a cheap way to get around. What this translates into is thousands of tax payer dollars for San Francisco General Hospital's trauma center they can't afford. The average car insurance premium pays out $15,000.  Bankruptcies and ruined futures will ensue.  

On a side note, I'm beginning to realize the reason why San Francisco's likely allowing the endless occupation of contractors for road construction work is an attempt to force people to find other types of transportation. There's an occupation of road workers that never moves on and goes away in San Francisco.  After a street is paved and ready to go, workers come back within a month or two and begin ripping it up all over again. It's apparent to me the city's harassing people to find different modes of transportation. 

People are much safer in their cars, not so much on bicycles and especially the majority who are out of shape. It's unreasonable for the city to expect people to get out of their vehicles and onto these modes of transportation and for taxpayers to pay riders medical bills.  The government needs to stop pressuring people to get out of their vehicles and stop obstructing traffic unnecessarily.

For anyone who'd like to provide their own feedback about the JUMP eBike program as I have you can contact Heath Maddox at 

Heath Maddox
Senior Planner, Livable Streets
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
1 South Van Ness Avenue, 7th Floor
San Francisco, CA  94103
Email: heath.maddox@sfmta.com
Phone: 415.701.4605
www.sfmta.com

at
Location: San Francisco San Francisco, CA 94109, USA